Knight pulls fast one on Henson with win

LAS CRUCES, N.M.  Six hours before his team faced its second road game of the season Wednesday night at New Mexico State, Bob Knight turned on the charm and did a friend a favor.

He accompanied his buddy, Lou Henson, to a Rotary Club luncheon and helped him raise nearly $2,000 for the Aggie Scholarship Association.

Mark it down as the perfect con job. Nine hours later, Knight pulled a fast one on Henson with an 81-80 overtime win for Texas Tech against Henson's New Mexico State Aggies (3-1).

After two decades of basketball games against each other at Indiana and Illinois, that's the way it goes sometimes. It's like an old saying: "With friends like these, who needs enemies?"

Certainly not Knight, who was still taking a little good-natured grief from Henson Wednesday for throwing a chair in a game in 1985.

"He was going to move the chair when it slipped out of his hand and kind of rolled on the floor," Henson said. "Can you believe that they made a big deal out of that?"

Credit Knight for taking the jab in stride. Sort of. Before he got up to speak at Henson's fund-raising luncheon Wednesday, Knight shouted down three Aggie boosters introduced by Henson, New Mexico State's head coach. Each had paid $2,500 to sit on the Aggies' bench for Wednesday's nationally televised game against Tech (5-1).

"Well, you three people better keep your (rear ends) on the bench tonight," Knight shouted in a room full of 358 people.

They laughed, of course, just as they did a few minutes later when Knight gave Henson a return jab.

"People have said to me, 'I didn't think you and Lou always got along really well,"' said Knight, Tech's new head coach after 29 years at Indiana. " Well, hell, there isn't anybody I've always gotten along with. That person doesn't exist."

Knight then cited Henson's wife, Mary.

"Mary hasn't liked him every day, either" Knight said. "Lou mentioned all the years they've been married... I know a thought going through Mary's mind: 'You know I've never once thought of divorce. Murder, yes, but not divorce."'

Forget about the hugs and kisses. In a friendship like this, you've got to be more creative than that. Henson, who called Knight a "classic bully" in 1991, still has a gift from Knight given to him for his retirement from Illinois in 1996.

When it happened, Knight "said a lot of nice things about me," said Henson, who coached at Illinois from 1975-96. "I didn't realize that would ever happen. He said a lot of nice things and then you know what he did? He gave me a chair. Wasn't that appropriate? Mary and I still have it wrapped up. We are not about to let that go. One of these days, that's going to be worth a lot of money."

On Wednesday before the game, Knight was worth a lot of money for Henson's Aggies (3-1) and the Rotary Club. His appearance drew 358 people at $8 per ticket. The total take for the Aggie Scholarship Association was $1,984.

"This is the biggest crowd we've had at this coaching luncheon in the 13 years I've been here," said Tom Kellner, executive director of the ASA.

It also may have been the best "favor" Knight ever did for Henson before a game.

Though it wasn't intentional, Henson has already paid him back for it with Knight's favorite gift: a win for Knight's team, a loss for Henson's. Knight is now 28-15 in his career against his old friend.

"I was going to give him a gift but it didn't work out," Henson said before the game. "I'll take care that some other time."